1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for processing call detail records. Particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for partitioning call detail records and related data for usage processing.
2. Description of Related Art
Switches in telecommunications networks generate one or more call detail records for every call that they handle. The call detail record may contain detailed statistics about calls that have been made by a subscriber such as the time each call was place, the duration of each call, and the destination of each call. A call detail record may pertain to a single call or multiple calls made over a predefined time period depending on the telecommunications carrier that collects and uses the information from the call detail records. As most calls involve two or more switches, complete information regarding a single telephone call may be based on information from the call detail records of each switch that handled the call. Call detail records, therefore, must be examined to determine if and how charges for a particular telephone call should be assessed to an account, a subscriber, etc.
Call detail records are typically transmitted from switches to other computer systems for usage processing. Usage processing may comprise many activities including receiving, translating, validating, processing, and guiding of records that are used for billing purposes. Usage processing may include determining whether the call meets the telecommunications carrier""s criteria for charging it to a subscriber, assigning the call to an account, and determining the rate to be charged for the call. xe2x80x9cGuidingxe2x80x9d is the process of associating call detail records with an account for billing. An active subscription for the account is then located based on certain selection criteria and based on a billable access number. Subscriber, rate, and other information required to complete usage processing may be stored in one or more databases that are accessed by the computer systems.
To complete usage processing, call detail records originating from many switches that handle calls must be processed. In addition, access to the subscriber, rate, and other information is required. As the volume of call detail records to be processed increases, backlogs may result at the computers as they process all the call detail records needed to bill one call and they contend for access to the databases. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method for usage processing of call detail records that is scaleable by allowing the distribution of load across many processes executing on one or more computers. As usage processing depends on the availability of subscriber, rate, and other information, there is a need for a system and method for distributing the necessary data across processes executing on one or more computers.
The present invention groups and routes call detail records (CDRs) based on one or more digits of the billable telephone number or the billable mobile identification number (MIN). In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the last two digits of the billable telephone number or MIN are used. However, any digit or combination of digits that provides a good N-way statistical distribution may be used. In addition, other fields in a CDR may be used. Therefore, one to as many digits as there are in the telephone number field plus other fields may be used if the distribution statistics are determined to be appropriate. The approach of the present invention provides a simple, effective, and efficient way of partitioning the processing load for call detail records. In addition, subscriber, rate, and other information that may be necessary for usage processing is routed to processes and computers based on the telephone number or other field values that support partitioning of CDRs.